[tor-commits] [arm/master] Updating the arm readme FAQ

[atagar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

commit 38acbe83903fefcbacc94a3bdfc9bfcc7fe65774
Author: Damian Johnson <atagar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date:   Sat May 14 13:43:04 2011 -0700

    Updating the arm readme FAQ
    
    Arm no longer provides hostname resolution (for now...) so the caveat on arm
    sometimes actively querying information is no longer accurate.
    
    I dropped the warning about stale descriptors, mostly since it was causing
    confusion without any benefit. However, this can still cause some confusion if
    relay operators use that information. Hence I'm adding a description for what
    consensus/descriptors entries are, with the workaround.
---
 README |   46 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------
 1 files changed, 34 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)

diff --git a/README b/README
index e7c2e2c..456aba1 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -88,22 +88,13 @@ share and it should be fine.
 
 > Is there any chance that arm will leak data?
 
-Not by default, arm is a passive listener with one exception. The second page
-(connections) provides the hostnames of Tor relays you're connected to. This
-means reverse DNS lookups which, if monitored, could leak your current
-connections to an eavesdropper. However, this is disabled by default and
-lookups are only made upon request (when showing connection details or listing
-connections by hostname). See the page's help for how to enable lookups.
-
-That said, this is not a terribly big whoop. ISPs and anyone sniffing your
-connection already have this data - the only difference is that instead of
-saying "I am talking to x" you're saying "I'm talking to x, who's x?", meaning
-the resolver's also aware of who they are.
+No. Arm is a completely passive listener, fetching all information from either
+Tor or the local system.
 
 > When arm starts it gives "Unable to resolve tor pid, abandoning connection 
 listing"... why?
 
-If you're running multiple instances of tor then arm needs to figure out which
+If you're running multiple instances of Tor then arm needs to figure out which
 pid belongs to the open control port. If it's running as a different user (such
 as being in a chroot jail) then it's probably failing due to permission issues.
 Arm still runs, just no connection listing or ps stats.
@@ -114,6 +105,37 @@ Some terminals, most notably screen sessions on Gentoo, appear to have a bug
 where highlighted spaces aren't rendered. A reported workaround is to set:
   TERM="rxvt-unicode"
 
+> When I press enter in the connection panel to get details some of the
+information is either missing or outdated. Why is this?
+
+There are two sources of information about Tor relays: their consensus and
+descriptor entries.
+
+The consensus entry is provided on an hourly basis by the Tor directory
+authorities (special relays that keep track of all the relays in the network).
+The consensus has information like the nickname, flags, and in newer Tor
+versions a summarized exit policy.
+
+The descriptor entry, however, is published by the relays themselves and has
+information like their platform, contact information, family, public keys,
+exit policy, etc. These are much larger than the consensus entries and don't
+change unless the relay changes their configuration.
+
+Everyone in the Tor network (both relays and users) need the consensus entries
+to operate. However, only users (not relays) need the descriptor entries.
+
+Tor will fetch both the consensus and descriptors for all of the currently
+active relays when it first starts. But to save bandwidth only the consensus
+entries are updated after this unless...
+a. 'FetchUselessDescriptors 1' is set in your torrc
+b. the directory service is provided ('DirPort' defined)
+c. you use Tor as a client
+
+This means that some of the information on the connection page (like the
+platform and contact information) might be missing or stale due to missing
+descriptors. This isn't important to most users, but if you need this
+information then this is simple to fix with the above.
+
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